Date: Sunday 21 August 2022
Trajectory: Malargüe – San Luis

Distance covered:  459 km (plus extra 108 km diversion)

Left Malargüe (which I have now learned how to spell) in the dark and spent the first 90 mins driving due east and squinting to avoid being dazzled by the surprisingly large number of cars coming into Malargüe on a Sunday morning, many of whom don’t believe in dipped headlights, and the second hour squinting driving due east into a ferocious blinding sun.  Moral: when leaving early, don’t drive east (or when driving east, don’t leave early).

Mountains for the first couple of hours, giving way to flat plains. No domestic animals on the road today, but a roadside juvenile rhea and a disappearing fox cheered me up. And of course, lots of birds, with frequent feeding flocks along the verges and roadside vegetation. In the picture are some eared doves and a spotwinged pigeon from a mixed feeding group.

An uneventful drive today, bar a navigation error (see below). One interesting place I drove through was Monte Comán, once an important Railway station with British connections. Much of the infrastructure can still be seen, and the town also has an open-air display of old engines, rolling stock and agricultural machinery. 

Shortly afterwards I crossed into the Province of San Luis, the countryside now completely flat. It was warm with the sun high, but not so warm when the clouds covered the sun so I was busy regulating the AC (and trying to remember how it worked). 

Life is full of surprises, and I had to stop and investigate these abandoned plastic bottles. Litter for luck, it seems – or to reserve your place in a better world? Shrines like this often mark the scene of fatal accidents and are dedicated to Deolinda [Difunta] Correa. For the interesting story of Deolinda see here.

All the highways today have had solar-powered wifi SOS points every couple of kilometres or so. Splendid idea, with so much sun here, and the posts make useful nesting boxes for the birds.

And now to today’s navigation problem, and the bird of the day. I drove past a falcon on a post, spotted him and turned round to take the photo. Then I thought this would be a good time to have a sandwich, which I did and then I got in the car and drove on. 

‘On’ being back the way I had come. Because there are no road or distance signs and the scenery is pretty much flat and featureless (and because I didn’t have the satnav on – I couldn’t see the point!) it took me 54km to realise my error, so that added an extra 108 to the days driving. Never mind, I wasn’t in a hurry and it’s nice driving on good roads, which this was.

Finally reached San Luis. Found the place I had earmarked but didn’t much like the look of it. Despite their online assurances that they had lock-up parking and wifi they in fact had neither. However I did find another place, very cheap, with both.

Tomorrow I drive northeast towards Villa Carlos Paz, in the Province of Córdoba. It’s a shorter drive unless I get distracted. Today’s lesson – keep the satnav on, even when it says next turn 280 kms.